Rack with shallow sliding trays



June 24, 1930;

W. N. VANCE RACK WITH SHALLOW SLIDING TRAYS Filed Dec. 10, 1925 2Sheets-Sheet l June 24, 1930. w. N. VANCE RACK WITH SHALLOW SLIDING-TRAYS Filed 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 24, 1930 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE WALTER N. VANCE, OF CHICAGO HEIGHTS, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR,BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO LYON METAL PRODUCTS, INCORPORATED, OF AURORA,ILLINOIS, A COR- PORATION or ILLINOIS RACK WITH SEALLOW SLIDING TRAYSApplication filed December 10, 1925. Serial No. 74,583.

This invention relates in eneral to tray racks and has for an object t eprovision of such a device particularly adapted to support a largenumber of relatively shallow trays.

nother important object Is to provide such a device that will besubstantially rigid made of sheet metal and of relatively simpleformation.

Another important object is to provide such a device that may bemarketed in a variety of sizes without requiring additional equipment,such as dies for forming special parts, and which may be added to by themere assembly of additional and like parts to provide a larger capacity.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentas it is better understood from the following description, which, takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferredembodiment thereof.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a device embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan section taken substantially on line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevation, showing in detail theconstruction of the tray supporting members;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailed vertical elevational view, showing thesame parts; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on line '55 ofFig. 1.

To illustrate my invention, I have shown in Figure 1 a rack 11 having uper and lower compartments 12 and 13, w ich may be of any suitable size,and a plurality of trays 14 arranged in each of these compartments. Itwill be understood, however, that the trays may be omitted from certaincompartments, if desired, and that other compartments may be added, ifdesired, as will be later described.

The rack 11 is preferably formed of sheet metal and includes a pluralityof upright supports 15 and spacing means, which may be of any suitableform, for securing the uprights 15 in spaced relation, and in thepresent instance I have shown wall plates 16 which may be of sheet metaland adapted to provide an enclosure to exclude dust and the llke fromthe trays 14. While the wall plates 16 may be formed to provide threevertical walls and connected to uprights 15 at their opposite edges, Iprefer to extend these plates in one direction a sufficient distance toprovide a double compartment into which trays may be inserted from eachside and to separate these compartments by a vertical wall plate 17While I have shown two compartments, one above the other, it

will be understood that racks may be built a to provide only one orseveral compartments disposed one above the other, or may be dividedinto several compartments by inserting horizontal separating and spacinglates 18, which may also be used to provide a top and bottom closure forthe rack. While the plates 18 may be secured in position in any suitablemanner, such as by welding, riveting, or the like, I prefer to securethese plates to the wall plates 16 and 17. This is accomplished by bolts21 extending through the flanges 19 and the wall plates 16. A tie rod orsupport 22 may be provided for supporting the outer end of the plates18, which is preferably adapted for interlocking engagement in key slots23, which may be spaced at suitable intervals in the uprights 15. Traysupporting and guiding devices 24 are, or may be formed to provide achannel or runway for one or more trays 14. The devices 24 arepreferably formed as separate units to facilitate their use in rackcompartments of various heights and are preferably U-shaped in crosssection. One or more offset lip portions 25 are provided at one end ofthe devices 24 which are preferably adapted for interlocking engagementin an upright 15. In the present instance, these offset lips 25 areadapted to extend through apertures 26 in the uprights 15 .to

engage an inner face thereof when the de- 100 vices 24 are in operativeposition. The other end of the devices 24 is preferably adapted forattachment to the corresponding end of one or more adjacent companiondevices and may also be offset or otherwise formed for attachment to aframe member or to other parts of the rack. In the present instance, Ihave shown an offset ortion 27 substantially rectangular in orm andadapted to extend beyond the side of the U-shaped portion 28 asuflicient distance to overlap the corresponding part of an adjacentdevice. Apertures 29 and 31 are provided in the portion 27, which arepreferably spaced so that when two or more devices 24 are secured sideby side, a bolt extending through the aperture 29 in one of the deviceswill also extend through the apertures 31 of the adjacent device and mayalso, if desired, extend through a portion of the frame or through theWall plate 16 as at 32.

The trays 14 may be of any suitable form and may be adapted for slidingengagement in the devices 24, or may be provided with antifrictionrollers, or the like. In the present instance, I have shown these traysadapted for sliding engagement and formed of sheet metal. Suitablehandles 33 may be provided for controlling the trays, and label holders34, of any suitable type, may be attached to the front of the trays forcontaining a label to identify .the contents thereof.

In operation, the uprights 15 may be provided with apertures 26 and keyslots 23 in opposite sides and formed to embrace a portion of the wallplates sothat after assembling the uprights to a Wall plate,traysupporting and guiding devices 24 may be attached to either or bothsides of the uprights. Vertical wall plates 17 may be attached on eitheror both sides of the wall plates 16 and the horizontal plates 18 may beattached thereto on one or both sides. It will thus be noted that to oneunit, which may be of any height, similar units may be attached at willand upon either side, in which tray-supporting devices 24 may be readilyassembled and secured. When these devices are made in accordance with myinvention, a large number of shallow trays may be positioned in eachcompartment.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantageswill be understood from the foregoing description, and it will beapparent that various'changes may be made in the form, construction, andar rangement of the parts, without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention, or sacrificing all of its material advantages, theforms hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodimentthereof.

I claim:

1. A tray rack, comprising, upright supports having a vertical series ofspaced apart cut-outs, means for securing said uprights in spacedrelation, a plurality of channel shaped tray supports having at one enda tongue adapted for detachable engagement in a said cut-out, each saidsupport having at its opposite end a lateral flange, a rack membercarried by the upright supports, means for attaching said flange to saidrack member and to the lateral flange of an adjacent channel memberwhereby said channel members are detachably and rigidly connected toeach other.

2. A tray rack, comprising, uprights held in spaced apart position, saiduprights having a vertical series of spaced apart notches formedtherein, a plurality of tray supports having formed portions detachablyengaging said spaced notches, said tray supports having lateral flangesextending down from the plane of said support and overlapping andengaging the lateral flange of the next adjacent tray support, means forsecuring overlapping portions together and to said rack so that saidtray supports are rigidly and detachably connected. to said uprights andare rigidly and detachably interconnected.

3. A tray rack, comprising, a plurality of spaced front and rear hollowuprights having a vertical series of cut-outs formed in the lateral sideof said uprights, lateral side plates arranged between front and rearuprights, a plurality of tray guides horizontally positioned betweensaid uprights, each of said tray guides having tongues de tachablyengaged in the cut-outs of said uprights to support an end of said guidedetachably secured to said upright, the other end ofsaid tray guideshaving a laterally extending flange provided with suitable bolt holes topermit said flanges to be bolted to the side plate and adjacent traysupports to form a rigid structure so that tray members may be insertedin said tray guides. I

4. A tray rack, comprising, uprights, means for holding said uprights inspacedv apart position, said uprights having a vertical series of spacednotches, a plurality of detachably mounted tray guides comprising each asheet metal channel member having at one end a complementary fasteningmember detachably engaged in a spaced notch of a said upright, theopposite end of said tray guides having attaching tongues bentsubstantially at a right angle to the plane of said tray guides andsecured at a remote point in said rack, the outerredge' of said angularportion being bent transversely to the main portion and extending fromthe horizontal plane of said tray guide to provide an overlapping memberfor connection-with a similarly formed tongue on a next adjacent trayguide, and means for securing said adjacent overlapping portionstogether.

5. A tray rack, comprising upright supporting members, and a frameportion remote from said supporting members means for maintaining saidsupporting members in spaced relationship, and a plurality ofhorizontally disposed tray supports having interlocking engagement atone end with a said supporting member and detachably secured at theother end to each other and to the frame portion remote from saidsupporting member.

6. A tray rack, comprising tubular upright supporting members having avertical series of spaced apart notches, means for holding saidsupporting members in spaced relation, a plurality of horizontallydisposed tray supports, each of said tray supports having complementaryfastening members at one end and detachably engaged in the notches, andmeans for securing the opposite ends of said supports to each other andto the rack structure at a remote point in the tray rack to preventdisplacement of said fastening members from engagement in said notches.

for detachable interlocking engagement at one end with a said tubularupright and detachably fastened at their other end to said vertical wallportion adjacent said lateral wall portion, a vertical series of saidtray supportsbeing arranged on opposed sides of said lateral wall.

'VVALTER N. VANCE.

7. A tray rack, comprising tubular upright supporting members and aframe portion remote from sald supporting members means for malntamlngsald supportlng 'members in spaced relationship, and a plurality ofhorizontally disposed tray supports having interlocking engagement atone end with a said supporting member and detachably secured at theother end to each other and to the frame portion remote from saidsupporting member.

8. In a tray rack, the combination of an upright supporting membercomprising a tubular upright and a vertical wall portion supported bysaid upright, and a vertical series of horizontal tray supports eachhaving detachable interlocking engagement at one end with said tubularupright and secured to an adjacent shelf support and to said verticalwall portion at the other end.

9. In a tray rack, the combination of a vertical support membercomprising front and rear tubular uprights and a vertical Wall platearranged between said uprights and supported thereby, and horizontalshelf supporters having detachable engagement with said tubular uprightsat their forward ends and secured to each other and to said wall plateat the rear.

10. A tray rack, comprising tubular upright supporting members providedwith a vertical series of spaced slots, means for maintaining saidsupporting members in spaced relationship and plurality of horizontallydisposed tray supports formed at one end for interlocking engagement-inthe slots of a said upright support member and means for detachablysecuring the other

